Byrd Man

Wild Cards AU [High Casual Superpowered fun!]

I'm gonna bump.

Book Challenge (2017)

Started 1/1/17

Completed

1. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generatio by Jeff Chang (Started in '16)
2. The Man with the Getaway Face by Richard Stark (Started in '16)
3. Breakout by Richard Stark
4. The Closers by Michael Connelly
5. Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann (Audiobook)
6. Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Levoy
7. The Overlook by Michael Connelly
8. Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones (Audiobook)
9. The Outfit by Richard Stark
10. The Cut by George Pelecanos
11. Right as Rain by George Pelecanos
12. The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries by Andrei Soldatov & Irina Borogan
13. Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale
14. The Last Good Heist: The Inside Story of The Biggest Single Payday in the Criminal History of the Northeast by Randall Richard, Tim White, and Wayne Worcester (Audiobook)
15. Mucho Mojo by Joe R. Lansdale
16. Hell to Pay by George Pelecanos
17. Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
18. Pronto by Elmore Leonard
19. The Guards by Ken Bruen
20. The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
21. The Two Bear Mambo by Joe R. Lansdale
22. Soul Circus by George Pelecanos
23. Bad Chili by Joe R. Lansdale
24. Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard
25. Darkness, Take my Hand by Dennis Lehane
26. Death Without Company by Craig Johnson
27. The Double by George Pelecanos
28. The Deep Blue Goodbye by John D. MacDonald
29. The White by Richard Price
30. The Great Deluge Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley
31. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
32. It by Stephen King
33. Crashed by Timothy Hallinah
34. The Little Elvises by Timothy Hallinah
35. Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
36. King Suckerman by George Pelecanos
37. The Sweet Forever by George Pelecanos
38. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
39. The Fame Thief by Timothy Hallinah
40. The Force by Don Winslow
41. The Cartel by Don Winslow
42. The Late Show by Michael Connelly
43. Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell
44. Shame the Devil by George Pelecanos
45. The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques
46. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
47. Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
48. Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford
49. Herbie's Game by Timothy Hallinah
50. King Maybe by Timothy Hallinah
51. The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
52. Hollywood Nocturnes by James Ellroy
53. In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Parker
54. Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly
55. Strange Weather by Joe Hill
56. American Assassin by Vince Flynn
57. Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris
58. The Seventh by Richard Stark
59. Flashfire by Richard Stark
60. Quarry's List by Max Allan Collins
61. Killing Floor by Lee Child
62. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
63. Fields Where They Lay by Timothy Hallinah
64. True Detective by Max Allan Collins
65. Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

Part V:
Cops & Robbers

"Me and my people do not employ violence, and I do not let them carry guns… carrying guns is what I pay the police for."
-- Roy Olmstead

Detective Sergeant Thomas Burke sat at his desk in the detective's squadroom of the GCPD Western District House. The rest of his four man Narcotics unit were still at lunch. They'd taken a break from the usual morning routine of popping low and mid-level drug dealers for food while Burke went back to the station to do paperwork. He was in the process of completing incident reports for the day when the phone on his desk rang.

"Burke."

"You motherfucker!"

Burke immediately recognized the voice on the other end of the line.

"Why are you calling me here, Skeevers," he hissed. "We have a deal!"

"You goddamn right we do," Jefferson Skeevers yelled. "And that's why I wanna know how four police are riding up an elevator to come get me? How'd you let that fucking happen, Burke?! For what I'm paying you--"

"Shut your mouth," Burke snapped. "And tell me the situation. Did something happen in the projects today for cops to be there?"

"Naw, man. Ain't shit going on, so why the fuck are three rollies and a knocko coming down the hallway towards my apartment?" Burke heard movement on the other line. "Hey, Manman, they po-lice, don't fuck with them and do what they say!"

"I gotta go," Burke said quickly. "I'll look into it, that's all I can do."

He heard Skeevers protest as he put the phone back in the cradle. Burke leaned back in his chair and shook his head. What was going on? Three rollies and a knocko, to decode the slang of the street, meant three patrolmen and a plainclothes narcotics detective. There was no way someone from the Western would be over at the Finger without him knowing. That left... downtown. IA, or one of the other units like Major Crimes. If a downtown unit was coming for Skeevers without notifying the district that meant... they might know about Burke's deal with the drug dealer. They might know about the money and women in exchange for the muscle.

Burke quickly pulled his cell phone out and dialed Arturo Garcia, his second in command in Narco.

"Art," he said quickly. "Get everybody together and get over to the Finger right now."

"What's going on?"

"I don't know," Burke said, standing and walking towards the door. "But we're going to find out."

---

Jefferson Skeevers put his hands up as the door came open and the cops rushed in. A black one with a shotgun leveled it right at his face as two white cops, one in a suit, and a hispanic one came through the door. Skeevers' two bodyguards, Manman and Rocky, were already against the wall with their guns out of their waistbands and on the ground. All three men knew the score when it came to the cops. As much as Burke was indebted to him, he couldn't do a damn thing if Skeevers tried to hurt a police. In Gotham, the cops could be bought but they could never be bullied.

"On the ground," the one in the suit said. He had a pistol down by his side, but his face was hard enough that a gun wasn't necessary. "Spread 'em."

Skeevers did as instructed and hit the ground. He was quickly restrained with plastic tie cords to his wrists. His two bodyguards were tied by both their wrists and ankles while Skeevers was stood up by the knocko in the suit.

"Let's go."

He and the black cop grabbed him by the arms and led him out the apartment. Instead of going left towards the elevators, they went right towards the next apartment. Skeevers felt his chest tighten as the black cop knocked on the door with the butt of the gun.

"The fuck are ya'll--"

"Shut up," the white one snapped. "Tell the guys inside to open the door. Tell them it's the cops."

Skeevers did as instructed. A second later the steel bolted door came open and he was led inside by the two men, the other two police officers coming in behind them. The count room happened towards the end of its first shift and the entire small apartment was filled with bills that were counted and stacked and ready to be redistributed back. The two counters in the room had their hands up and were complying as they too were restrained by their wrists and ankles.

"Alright," the knock said with a nod towards the others.

All four men reached into their pants and pulled out folded up duffel bags that they quickly unfolded and opened. The three rollies started to shovel cash into the eight bags the four men had secreted into the room. Skeevers started to look around, making eye contact with the tall knocko with the mean face.

"The fuck kinda cops are y'all?"

The knocko put the gun in his face. "The kind that doesn't need to worry about justifying a shooting. Someone get the gag."

Skeevers started to yell for help, but by then it was too late. The hispanic one slipped a ball gag into his mouth and tightened it until he made no noise except a quiet muffling. The white one with the mean face scowled at him. He pulled out a rough floor plan of the housing project that showed every floor and room number.

"If you want to live, Skeevers," the man with the mean face hissed. "You're going to show us where you're keeping your dope stash."

---

"Something's not right."

Burke looked up at the project house with a scowl. Besides the four detectives, the entire plaza was deserted. The cop car was the reason why. It was just left out in the plaza, still running, its lights still flashing. No backup, no other cops watching the front door. Nothing.

"What's that?" Burke asked without looking away.

"Something's not right," Officer Chase said. "This car is fucked up."

Burke finally turned away and approached the patrol car. A quick glance inside proved Chase right. There was no radio, no scanner, no crime computer or GPS, nothing that the came standard in every Gotham patrol car. Four cops in a car like this go into the projects, going up specifically for Jefferson Skeevers and...

"Shit," Burke cursed. "We gotta get up there."

"Why?" Garcia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They're not cops. They're stick up men!"

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

Coolsville, California
1997

"I just can't believe it," Fred Jones said softly to himself.

"Stanley Jenkins," Daphne Blake shook her head. "Who would have thought?"

"I did," Velma Dinkley replied. "The second we saw that phosphorus paint on the dock. No ghost leaves marks like that."

The three teenagers stood on the shore of the beach while Stanley Jenkins was led away in handcuffs by police officers. He was still partially dressed in the glowing green outfit of a pirate captain. Rumors of some kind of ghost pirate near the beach had been plaguing the town for two weeks before the boys and girls of Mystery Inc. decided to get involved. The four teenagers spent three nights investigating the area until Velma found enough clues to spring the trap.

With the help of the sheriff's department, they had uncovered that the so-called ghost was actually Stanley Jenkins dressed in glow in the dark clothing and paint. He'd been scaring people off from the beach because that was how he was making money. Mr. Jenkins was smuggling in guns out of the beach and into the waters so they could be smuggled into Mexico. The trap had been set and Jenkins had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

"So long, Mr. Jenkins," Daphne called out with a wave.

"I would have gotten away with it too!" Jenkins snarled. "So fuck you!"

"Like, no thanks," Shaggy Rogers said as he walked up to the group, his Great Dane Scooby Doo by his side. "But I imagine you'll have a lot of that where you're going, man!"

"Shaggy!" The other three teens all said at once before they laughed all together.

---

Cool County, California
Now

Velma adjusted her glasses as she got out the car. She had her notebook, pen, and voice recorder in her hands as she approached the ramshackle house. Besides her unmarked car, a single patrol car sat outside the house with its lights still on. The deputy who called it in had been instructed to wait on her before deciding on backup. He called it in as a DB with a possible 187. If it was a 187, then more cops would be called on scene.

"Coming in," she announced as she came through the door. "It's me, Dinkley."

Deputy Mathis stood in the middle of a dirty living room piled with old food boxes, waterlogged newspapers, and moldy magazines. The smell was strong enough that if a dead body was rotting somewhere in the house she'd never been able to smell it.

"Come this way, Detective."

He led her to the body in the bedroom, face down on the floor. A pool of blood was underneath it.

"There's blood, but I don't see an exit wound," said Mathis. "It's why I'm not sure what happened."

"Call for backup," Velma said as she squatted. "It's likely it's a .22 round. Those little bastards and pinball through a human body and never exit."

Mathis did as he was told, speaking into the mic on his shoulder, while Velma removed a pair of latex gloves from her jacket. She put them on and squared her glasses before trying to find a wallet on the dead body. Nothing in any of the jean pockets. She looked up at Mathis.

"What got you out here?"

"Check up call," said the deputy. "Guy who lives here hadn't shown up for work for at least four days now, and his boss was getting worried. Said he didn't have many friends or family so somebody needed to see if he's alright."

"What's the name of the employee?"

Mathis pulled out a notebook and looked through it until he found the page he needed. "Rogers. Norville Rogers."

Velma felt a cold spot form in her stomach. She looked at the dead body. She couldn't tell from the back... but the dead body was tall, about the right height. Could it be? No...

"Detective?" Mathis asked. "Everything okay?"

"Yes," she said quickly. "Come here, help me flip the body."

"Shouldn't we wait?"

She shoved a pair of latex gloves into Mathis' hands and ignored him as she grabbed the dead bodies' shoulder. Mathis joined in and the stiff body flipped over on to its back, revealing a face heavily bruised and beaten. She spotted the bullet entry wound just below the neck in the upper chest. The face was swollen, and twenty years had not been kind to him, but Velma had no doubt as to who the dead body on the floor was.

"Oh, Shaggy..." she said softly. "Who did this to you?"

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

Go, Go, Godzilla

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

Velma

^"Jinkies"
Velma Dinkley ♦ 9/18/81 (36) ♦ Female ♦ Lawful Good

C O N C E P T A B S T R A C T:

Years ago, Velma Dinkley was part of a group of young mystery solvers known as Mystery Inc. Led by handsome and popular Fred Jones, the gang of four teenagers solved local mysteries in and around the town of Coolsville. Norville "Shaggy" Jones' dog, Scooby Doo served as the mascot of the young sleuths. Two weeks before graduation, Mystery Inc. was disbanded by mutual consent of all parties. After high school, the gang drifted apart. Velma went to college and majored in criminal justice. She graduated and become a sheriff's deputy in Cool County. She got married, had two kids, and got divorced and servers as an investigator for the Sheriff's Department's CID unit. But, suddenly, an act of violence has called Velma back to an old crime scene and the members of Mystery Inc. back together for the first time in years.

N O T E S:

I'm doing a more down to earth version of Scooby Doo, if that's possible. Scooby isn't a talking dog is sort of the big change.

Wild Cards AU [High Casual Superpowered fun!]

Name: Sergeant Desmond Ledford aka Lead Belly

Age: 34

Birth Place: Newark, New Jersey

Drawn Card: Ace

Card Manifestation: Ledford has a layer of hardened skin around the edges of his outer layer that work almost like a microscopic exoskeleton. It cannot be penetrated by anything other than a high-powered laser.

Character History:

Desmond Ledford was born in in Newark, New Jersey to parents Roland and Bernice Ledford, the youngest of three children. Desmond spent the better part of his childhood as a heavyset and slow kid, sometimes winding up as the butt of jokes with other children and some adults in the neighborhood. Once Ledford hit the age of 13, puberty kicked in and a timely growth spurt put the young man at 6'5 and turned his squeaky voice into a deep baritone. With the added height, Desmond went out for basketball in high school and became a star on two state championship teams. An injury in his junior year caused him to miss out on athletic scholarships.

After graduating high school with an average grade point average, very little prospects, and no real desire to attend college, Desmond decided to become a police. While the Newark Police Department was not hiring, NYPD's academy accepted him and he joined up. While Desmond did well in mot of his courses, he particularly excelled at driving courses. After graduation, he became a patrolman in the NYPD's 60th Precinct in Brooklyn. Eventually he passed as promoted to sergeant and transferred to the 22nd Precinct around Central Park.

Desmond was on the street on Black Queen Day and witnessed the horrors of the virus before succumbing to it himself. He became one of the rare few to get the virus, live to tell about it, and emerge from the sickness with a strange new ability. That ability manifested itself a week after Black Queen Day when an armed rioter shot Desmond at point blank range with a shotgun. The pellets ripped into his uniform and through his bullet proof vest, but bounced off his skin completely. Further examination revealed that a microscopic film of hardened skin, ten times as hard as any kevlar or metal, had formed over his usual epidermis. No knife, bullet, or other object was capable of penetrating this object.

As an Ace, Desmond was a natural fit to work Jokertown. He was quickly reassigned to the Fifth, more and more commonly being called Fort Freak, and joined the unique blend of Joker, Ace, and Nat that made up the police squad.

Jokertown Role: As a patrol sergeant in the NYPD's Fifth Precinct, aka Fort Freak, Ledford supervises a squad of four patrol officers and responds to calls in and around the Jokertown area.

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

Last Killer Standing
Part III:
Proverbs 28:5

"Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing.
Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous.
The shape is drawn. No line can be erased."
-- Cormac McCarthy

Jefferson City, Missouri
1873

Jonah Hex crouched down behind a pew in the church. He opened up the chambers of his big revolvers and dumped still smoking shells on to the sawdust covered floor. Close beside him was Timothy Perkins, outlaw turned preacher who found himself in a delicate position. Hex had come to collect the bounty on him. He would have to hang in Kansas in order for Hex to get his money. The alternative was the big man walking through the church with a shotgun.

Bill DeVery, Perkins' old partner from his outlaw days, had been cutting a path of dead bodies across Kansas and Missouri. One by one Bill killed the other members of their gang until only he and Perkins remained. He was after Perkins' piece of the map Migs Malone had drawn up five years ago when they robbed millions of dollars in paper money from a US Treasury train. By themselves the individual map pieces did not tell much, but all together they showed the location of the money.

Church got a backdoor, Rev?" Hex asked as he loaded his revolvers.

"Afraid not, Mr. Hex. The only entrance is through the vestibule."

"Heard that," DeVery said from across the room. "Only way y'all got in and out is through that door. Lucky for me."

Hex peaked his head up from the pew and took a potshot at the direction of DeVery's voice. He flopped back down as DeVery opened up with his own blast.

"Not a bad shot. Who's your friend, Timmy?"

"I'm a bounty hunter. Come to collect your friend here. Judge out in Lawrence is paying a fair price to see him hang. You, too, DeVery. It's why I'm only shooting to wound."

"That's mighty white of you, mister. All things considered, I think I'm gonna turn down your offer."

Hex looked at Perkins and made a talking motion with his hands. He put a finger to his lips and laid his spare revolver at Perkins' feet. The preacher nodded as Hex started to quietly slink through the pews towards the pulpit. Perkins picked up the gun and held it close.

"You know you don't have to do this, Bill. The money, the map, it's all yours. I can give you my piece and you can go on to get it without any violence. I have no desire for the money and all it entails."

"Obviously," DeVery said with a wry chuckle. "You got a good racket here, Timmy. Pulling the long con here, you'll make more than we ever could by robbing any bank or train. Sure as hell wished I'd have thought of it, but then again you was always the brains of the outfit."

"It's not a con, Bill. It's genuine. I've changed and seen the error of my ways. I got saved."

"Right, and how do you feel about tall, dark, and ugly over there? You're gonna stroll arm in arm with him to the gallows?"

Across the church, Jonah Hex approached Bill DeVery from behind. The big man's back made a clear target. He had his revolver out and raised. He made one step forward to plant his foot and prepare for the shot. The tip of his boot stepped on a loose floorboard and made it squeak.

DeVery whipped around, the shotgun aimed square at Hex's face. The gun went off just as Hex fell to the ground. He felt pellets cut through the top of his hat as he fell. Hex rolled to the left as DeVery used the second shot in his double-barrelled gun to destroy a floorboard where Hex had been. The bounty hunter scampered under a pew for cover as DeVery ditched his empty shotgun and pulled out a five-shot Smith and Wesson from his waistband. The outlaw walked through the pews, watching the floors and trying to avoid getting his ankles shot out by Hex.

"Saw from your hat that you was wearing rebel gray," DeVery said as he stalked the pews. "Take it you served for them traitors during the war."

"I fought on the wrong side that had the wrong ideas," Hex said from somewhere close by. "But I fought for my own ideas. I fought for what I believed in."

"Mighty poetic of you."

"Thanks!"

Hex popped up in front of DeVery with his Bowie knife out. He sunk the sharp blade into the outlaw's shoulder and twisted. DeVery yelled out and tried to shoot with his gun. Hex's free hand, the one that had been holding the knife, slapped DeVery's gun away and tried to get his own gun leveled to take a shot. The two men wrestled on their feet for control of Hex's lone gun while Hex's big Bowie knife stayed stuck in DeVery's shoulder.

KRAK!

DeVery's eyes went wide and he cursed as the fight suddenly left him. Hex looked over DeVery's shoulder and saw Timothy Perkins, holding Hex's spare gun in his hands. DeVery slumped over a pew and weakly tried to pry the knife from his shoulder. Hex saw the big bullet wound in his back, right where the heart was. Years later and Perkins was still a crack shot with the gun.

"Son of a bitch," DeVery mumbled. Blood gushed from his body and started to fill the pew where he was laying. "Son of a..."

"This could be the end of it," Perkins said as he looked down at Hex's gun. "Bill's dying. I could kill you, too. Run away from here, get the money, and then set myself up at another church somewhere else. A new name and a new flock. Another chance."

"You can try, Rev."

Hex held the gun in his hand ready. Perkins was good, but Hex was better. If he tried anything, the preacher would be dead before he realized it. A moment later, Perkins dropped the gun to the floor and looked at Hex.

"You were right, Hex. I am the preacher Timothy Partlow, but deep down I am still the outlaw Tim Perkins. I am a pious man now, but there is still evil and violence in my heart. Nothing will change that, and nothing will make right what I have done. 'Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.' So say the Bible. I understand His justice fully, now, Hex. I have been granted salvation in God's eye, and now I must face man's justice. I will go to Kansas willingly with you."

"My horse is waiting outside, Rev. Let's go."

The two men began to head towards the exit. Hex stopped and walked back towards the pew where DeVery's body lay. Hex looked down at the corpse befoe rooting through his jacket and pulled out his pieces of the map. Scraps of paper that together were telling him something, but it was incomplete without Perkins' part. Sneering, Hex tore up the pieces and tossed them into the air.

"Goddamn map cost me four bounties."

He spat at the dead body's feet and turned back to Perkins, escorting the condemned man out the door and to his impending death.

----

Epilogue
Roadwork

Janesville, Wisconsin
1935

"Mr. Ford, Mr. Ford!"

James Ford looked up from the road plans in his hands. Today was the third day of their roadwork project. Part of the PWA and the New Deal, the road crew Ford was supervising were building a brand new highway from Janesville to the Wisconsin/Illinois state line. Once there, the folks on the Illinois side would take over and build a new highway from the state line to Rockford. All told the project was creating at least a hundred jobs for the folks around Janesville, something a lot of folks were grateful for.

"What is it?" Ford asked the two workers who came up to him in a hurry.

"We were starting back on the grading of that hill, and the ground started to get all crumbly. A few of us went down and found something. You gotta see this, sir."

Ford scowled and lit up a cigarette. He'd been doing road work for nearly thirty years and had seen all kinds of stuff beneath the ground. Junk, a few buried cars, and even one time a body. Nothing much would faze him. He followed the workers a few hundred yards to where the crew had been busy leveling out a hill to prepare it for gravel and eventual paving.

"It's a couple of trunks. Big ones. We got 'em popped open. It's the damnedest thing we ever saw."

Ford puffed on his cigarette and looked down into the small hole the men had dug out. There were three large trunks the size of a regular man on the ground. The tops had been opened and inside was what had once been money. The stuff had the shape and form of dollar bills, but it was so waterlogged and degraded it looked more like mush.

"How much you thank that is, Mr. Ford?"

"Who the hell knows," Ford said with a long exhale of smoke. "It's all worthless now. Whoever buried it must have thought the trunks were waterproof. Looks like that rain runoff has been seeping into those trunks for years. Probably was worthless a few years after it got buried."

Ford shook his head and checked his watch.

"You boys move it out of the site and I'll call someone to come take a look at it. Get a move on, now, we got work to do."

Ford watched the workers move the trunks out of the hole and carry them to a safe spot. He made sure that they all got back to work on grading the hill before he finished his cigarette and went back to his own work.

The End

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

<Snipped quote by Roman>
Nope. Should be pretty clear who they are by the foreshadowing, tho.

@Gowi

Harold. Got it.

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

So one thing I'm curious about in the Batman posts is Alfred's last name. Is Pennywise like a codename, or did you guys change it from Pennyworth to Pennywise? Because every time I read it I think of the killer clown from It.